Podcast

Podcast Final Paper

For my podcast, I focused on the topic of Johnny Manziel. My entire life I’ve been a sports fan, but football has always been my favorite sport to watch. I love the NFL, but College Football has been my passion. The fever really kicked it when I attended the University of Nebraska-Lincoln my freshman year. Honestly, it’s hard not to go to a game in that atmosphere and be hooked. Since 2009, I don’t know if I’ve gone a Saturday without watching multiple college football games. There’s something about the sport, between the passion of the college players and the win-or-go-home mentality of the rankings that has me hooked. I remember back in 2012 when I watched Johnny Manziel. There are a lot of great, exciting players in College Football, but nothing compared to Johnny Football. That’s why I chose to do my New Media/Technology in Sport Podcast on Johnny Manziel. He’s become such a polarizing figure in sports that it’s tough to go an hour watching ESPN without him referenced. He’s to the level of media attention that ESPN covers a significant amount of his personal life, even if it seems meaningless. Further, as it relates to this class, my podcast on Manziel focuses on how media can really drive the attention that a player receives. For example, ESPN, as aforemtnioned, has the power to drive the perception of a player with how they portray him or her. Another example of media and technology is the way social media has changed how athletes can be perceived. As I alluded to in my podcast, Manziel was caught in videos and pictures drinking, partying, getting kicked out of a Texas frat party, and in a bathroom seemingly rolling a $20 – an indication of drug use.

            Another reason that I wanted to cover the controversial topic of Manziel is because I truly think he is one of the few athletes where a non-hardcore sport fan will tune in to watch him. What I mean by that is there are sports fans out there who will only watch a game every once in a while, or they will only watch their favorite teams. Johnny Manziel changes that. There are only a handful of players who can do this, such as LeBron James and Tiger Woods, to name a few. These players are so good and so exciting that fans will tune in just to watch that specific player, even in a team sport such as basketball, baseball, and football. While Tiger Woods is arguably the best golfer ever, it becomes a little easier to stand out in an individual sport. Some of the seemingly impossible plays that Manziel is able to keep alive and convert are what make him so special. As I referenced in my podcast, we all look back at his razzle-dazzle play that had seemingly fallen apart, inevitably what we thought would lead to a sack, interception, or fumble. However, in the end, after running circles from one side of the field to the other, he managed to escape everyone and throw a touchdown in an eventual upset over the then #1 team in the nation, the Alabama Crimson Tide. These type of plays become synonymous with Manziel and people tune in just to watch the magic he displays on the field. Players that are this exciting are rare, but they are also good for the game. However, with their popularity inevitably brings controversy. Look at the other two players I referenced: LeBron James and Tiger Woods. There’s no lack of controversy and conflicting perceptions there. The same holds true with Johnny Manziel. That’s what makes these players so popular though.

            In this podcast, I started out by giving a background of Johnny Manziel. While nearly everyone, including those who aren’t sports fans, knows who he is, it served as a reminder of how he came to fame. Next I followed my introduction with a brief background on some of the stories and instances that built the controversy. My research here came from sources like ESPN, Wikipedia, Texas A&M’s website, etc. Wikipedia obviously isn’t the most credible source, but it often outlines a detailed personal background on public figures, which proved beneficial to my background introduction. After my introduction and background information, I went on to provide a few relevant examples of how we characterize and subsequently criticize athletes who do not act how we expect them to act – seemingly without a personality. Anymore, athletes are expected to go to college, sit in their dorm, play on Saturdays, get drafted, be quiet, perform on Sundays, and then retire. That’s not realistic though. However, that lack of realism is what makes sports so great. There’s also controversy. There’s always a winner and a loser. There’s always a good guy and a bad guy. But the criticism and shunning comes with it. As I mentioned in my podcast, examples such as Michael Sam, Tim Tebow, and LeBron James all illustrate my point. When athletes act out of this “norm” they get put in the media spotlight, where they are constantly monitored and analyzed. They get labeled “distractions” by the media, whether they actually are to the team or not.

            The spotlight from the media also shapes public perception. For example, as I talked about in my podcast, look at Michael Sam. He comes out as gay and everyone praises him for his courage and willingness to lead. Yet, an analyst, Tony Dungy, makes a comment about how he’s a distraction to the St. Louis Rams, and now you have fans who wonder why the Rams get all this media attention over someone who may not even play this season. It was a matter of finding these examples and relating them to the point I was trying to make in reference to Johnny Manziel. I wanted to prove that Manziel’s perception was consistent with the way media shapes how we view athletes. This was probably the most challenging part of my podcast because Manziel is so unique. We’ve never really seen anyone like him. Yet I wanted to prove the point that the media really can dictate our view of athletes.

            Lastly, in my podcast, I went on to express my viewpoint of Johnny Manziel and his impact on sports and football. The underlying theme that I wanted to get across, as I’ve outlined in this paper and in my podcast, is that Johnny Manziel, like him or not, is great for sports. He has a personality. He’s controversial. He’s fun to watch. Those three things, significant factors in what makes fans love or hate him, fuel the flame of his popularity, whether positive or negative. He’s not just another player. He isn’t an Andrew Luck that keeps to himself and is never in the news unless it’s for his play. Instead, Manziel is in the spotlight and he seemingly loves it. It seems that we see Manziel on ESPN now more than we did in college and he hasn’t even played a professional down. Yet his popularity continues to soar because of his controversial 21-year-old antics. In the end though, as I expressed in my opinion, Manziel is what football needs.

Blog #5

For my fifth and final New Media/Technology in Sport blog, I will be discussing the viral video that is the 1998 “The Airport”, a Nike Airport Soccer Commercial featuring Christiano Ronaldo and the Brazilian national soccer team. The ad was made in preparation for the 1998 World Cup, where the Brazil team is seemingly at the airport waiting for their flight to France. The video starts with the players sitting around in the airport, delayed for a flight, seemingly bored. However, the fun begins when a ball is brought out from a bag and kicked around between a few players like Romario, Roberto Carlos, and Denilson.

            Arguably, this ad is considered one of Nike’s best soccer commercials produced. The commercial is set to the tune of “Mas que nada” by Sergio Mendes, furthering the excitement of the commercial with its music. In the 1:30 commercial, Ronaldo and others kick the ball around the airport and runway, all the while escaping security guards. At the end of the commercial, after all of the skillful juggling and passing, Ronaldo approaches a “goal” (made by two line poles) with numerous patrons looking on. In a concluding shot to the commercial, the advertisement presents a comical end when all the skill is rendered meaningless by Ronaldo’s shot bouncing off the pole and resulting in a miss.

            I chose this video because, first off, it was viral. However, for me, it’s my favorite Nike commercial, next to Tiger Woods’ golf ball juggling video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DK_b6eYCAOo). This ad combines a lot of different appealing elements in order to create an effective commercial. First, they built up the hype of the World Cup with this video. The excitement was already there, but Nike was able to build on it by featuring a well-liked Brazilian national team. Second, with the beauty of soccer, it’s hard to not enjoy the skills of the world’s best. As this commercial showcases, the juggling ability of players such as Ronaldo is remarkable. Further, it is a somewhat relatable commercial because it features average patrons in the airport, which we can see ourselves as. Another key element, as I already alluded to, is the music. The fun nature of the background music drives the nature of the commercial. Lastly, the commercial produces humor in its final seconds as Ronaldo, even with all the skill he illustrates in the commercial, can’t make a wide open “goal.” Overall, the commercial turns a boring environment in to a fun game, all the while promoting the World Cup and Nike. It’s commercials like these, that are so well choreographed, that make us forget we are even watching an advertisement.

            As is the case with most viral videos, we need to find humor, interest, or a relatable feature in order for us to truly connect to the video and want to show it to our friends and colleagues. Nike was able to produce all three of these elements in this ad through the airport, the topic of soccer and its respective illustrated skill, and lastly, the missed “goal.” As aforementioned, Nike was able to help this video go viral by releasing it when they did – in preparation for the 1998 World Cup. Even today, this video still receives recognition. When I Google’d “Nike Brazilian Airport Commercial” there were four articles, all written in the last year, discussing the commercial. This was because of the 2014 World Cup and Nike’s new amateur-turned-professional ad featuring Neymar, Wayne Rooney, and a now much older Ronaldo (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaVtinE8oO8).

Blog #4

KSS Blog #4 will focus on the mirroring of a Sutton Impact SBJ article.

Interested in Sports Marketing? Know The Basics

With Sport becoming bigger and bigger, so do Sport Management careers. In that field, marketing plays a significant role, but students must know the basics in order to successfully enter the market and thrive within it. As a marketing professional, I have seen the pros and cons, as well as the ups and downs of the industry. In order to impact those seeking a career in Sport Marketing, I hope that my expertise and experience can shed light on the direction to success in their quest.

• Everything starts with your audience

As is the case with all business decisions, you must know your audience. If you don't, how will you know who to target? How will you know who to promote to? How will you know what they want? How will you know how they will receive it? Your target audience determines everything. You must understand them in order to understand Sport Marketing. For example, you are trying to sell suite tickets for the Denver Broncos. Who do you target? How do you find them? For starters, you know that suite tickets are the most expensive tickets in a football stadium. That allows you narrow your target audience down to higher income individuals and families. Second, how do you find them? Geographically, you can make a pretty good assumption that your suite ticket buyers will come within a 300 mile radius of Denver. It is unlikely you will find a suite ticket holder in San Francisco, CA. As aforementioned, that's an assumption, but you would be wasting your time looking through the San Francisco phonebook. This research of such elements of demographic, geographic, and psychographic information can help narrow down your target audience. In the end, through those two simple questions, you have significantly narrowed down who you are going to pursue.

As Peter Drucker, an Austrian-born American management consultant, educator, and author, once said, "The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well the product or service fits him and sells itself.”

• Know the way the industry is heading

You must be aware of the trends of your industry, as well as what the trends indicate for the future. The most significant trend of today's marketing is the conversion from traditional forms of marketing to a digital, online realm. While traditional forms are still useful in certain regards, they do not support themselves anymore. You can't expect to send out mail letters to the top 1,000 family income households within 300 miles of Denver, CO and expect to fill your suites for the season. First, that would be plain stupid. Second, mail letters aren't best marketing practices anymore. You need a creative, attractive webpage. You need an informative Facebook page. You need an interactive Twitter page. You need an updated, visual YouTube page. You need SEO and PPC marketing and metrics. New Media is the new way of marketing. Those who don't abide will fall in to the distance while adaptability will thrust those who react in to success.

• Have a plan for your decisions and their implementation

What is your plan for marketing? You may have found upper income, local Bronco-fan residents, but how will you go about marketing to them? A simple four-step process is perfect for all marketing campaigns.

1. Review

Research, analyze, and review your internal and external markets. Internally, you must perform a SWOT analysis, which features Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. What drives your business and what threatens your business? Once you know how you operate, you must know how you operate within your market. Who are you competitors? Who are you customers (aforementioned)? What are the trends (aforementioned)? Externally, analyze the underlying forces of business environment change: Cultural, Natural, Legal, Governmental, Technological, and Economic. Each and every one of these environments affects your business. You must know how.

2. Strategize

Now that you've analyzed your internal and external environments, put together a strategy of what you want to do. What are your goals? When do you want to achieve them? How are you going to measure them (We'll get to this)? Map out your entire broad-level strategy.

3. Implement

You know your market and you know your strategy. Now implement it. Put the process in motion and guide it to success.

4. Revise

Finally, review and revise your process. Did budgeted items match actual items? Chances are they didn't, so go back and research why. Then revise. You can always improve your processes, and it starts here.

• The 4 P's must be considered in every decision

You can't get through a marketing class without hearing about the "4 P's." They are the foundation of marketing.

1. Price

Price is a key to all marketing. Are you a low-cost provider or a differentiation provider? Are you providing cheap products at a low-cost or high-quality products at a higher-end cost? Price will have a significant effect on demand. It will be the key driver of your marketing.

2. Product

Products and services go interchangeably here. They are the basis of what you're marketing. You must know how to properly market and advertise your product or service to your customers.

3. Promotion

Building on "Product," you need to promote (market/advertise) your product or service. Will you invest in advertising or rely on word of mouth? Are you going to do online, traditional, in-store, etc. marketing? There are a wide variety of ways to go about promoting your product or service. Find what works best for your company and respective campaign.

4. Place

This section refers to the place in which your consumers will have access to your product or service. You have such options of intensive distribution, selective distribution, exclusive distribution, etc. You can offer a significant amount of your product in a significant amount of places (intensive distribution). You can offer a limited amount of your product in a limited amount of places (selective distribution). Or you can offer a limited amount of your product to only high-end consumers (exclusive distribution). For example, it will be must easier to find a Honda versus a Porsche. This illustrates intensive vs. exclusive distribution. Know how you are going to provide your product to consumers. It will be a key factor in the revenues, costs, and subsequent success of your marketing.

• You must be able to quantify your success

You can put all the effort in the world in to marketing your product or service, but you must know if you are doing so effectively, efficiently, and successfully. In order to do this, you will set up metrics in order to track, research, and analyze your marketing and advertising. As aforementioned, as an example, you can track clicks, click-through-rate (CTR), and cost-per-actions in PPC. If a customer clicks on your ad for Sears.com, did they leave after 5 seconds or did they stay for 20 minutes and end up purchasing a blender? These metrics are crucial in knowing the success of your marketing efforts. Anyone can market, but not everyone can market successfully. Analyzing the success of your marketing and advertising is crucial.

Knowing the basics of marketing is crucial to being successful in Sport Marketing. Remember that you must know your audience, develop and implement a plan around the 4 P's, and lastly, track your metrics. The more experience you gain, the more you will learn in this regard. As is life, you learn as you go.

Blog #3

In the third episode of the KSS 782 blog, we have been given the option of deciding our topic. In light of the recent NBA and NHL championships, and World Cup, I am going to focus on the social media, specifically Twitter, of each league and its respective teams. I will be looking at the methods and strategies used by accounts such as @NBA, @MiamiHEAT, @spurs, @NHL, @LAKings, @NYRangers, @FIFAWorldCup, and @ussoccer. In detail, I will be analyzing profiles, tweets/content, replies/interaction, and multimedia.

Profile - The profile of a Twitter handle is crucial to the success of an account. In detail, the profile includes such aspects as the account name, the profile picture, the cover picture, and the biography. Of the aforementioned Twitter handles, the best profile goes to @FIFAWorldCup. First, their handle is official of the event and its operators. Second, their profile picture features the World Cup logo, which signifies the official sense of the page. The greatest detail of their page is their cover photo, which is all encompassing. It features photos of fans, the trophy, and a stadium. This illustrates a full experience rather than just that of a futbol (soccer) game. Furthermore, their biography states, "Updates from Brazil provided by the Official Site of the 2014 FIFA World Cup." This biography notifies followers that this is the official feed of the World Cup. They also include a link to the website, which provides easy access to fans. Overall, they do a great job on all fronts. In other mentions, the @spurs and @LAKings do a great job with their cover photos, both after winning their respective championships. On top of this, the @spurs profile picture also features their recent championship accomplishment. Opposite, the @MiamiHEAT account could use improvements, most notably the fact that they do not have a cover photo. At this moment, the Miami Heat's top 3 (LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, and Chris Bosh) have all opted out of their contracts, which makes a fan-favorite cover photo difficult. However, they could feature a photo of another aspect of the team.

Tweets/Content - The entire makeup and being of Twitter is the tweets of its users. In consequence, t comes as no surprise that the tweets and content of an account can determine its success, popularity, and following. Of the accounts being examined, the top tweets/content goes to @ussoccer. The @ussoccer account features hashtags (#) or mentions (@) in nearly every single tweet, a significant success factor in a Twitter account. For example, at the current moment, @ussoccer most recent tweet (link) states, ".@ishodwair reppin' the #USA jersey at the Street League @NikeSB World Tour in Chicago. Tune to @foxsports1 at 7 ET!" This tweet features a wide variety of quality information. First, instead of simply stating Ishod Wair's name, they mention him, allowing fans access to his account and tweets. Second, instead of simply referring to the jersey he is wearing, they feature the #USA hashtag, which allows the respective tweet to show up in all #USA searches. Furthermore, in similar fashion to mentioning Ishod, they mention the Nike Skateboarding account, allowing fans access. Finally, they call for action by telling fans they can tune in to the event to watch Ishod on Fox Sports 1 (again, mentioning the account) at 7:00pm ET. Overall, all of their tweets feature similar aspects. In reference to their futbol tweets, they feature team hashtags, a World Cup feature of Twitter that allows shows the country's flags. They also have created #USMNT, #AreYouReady, and #1T1N hashtag campaigns to involve all USA fans. These factors help to create quality posts that allow searchable, interactive tweets.

 Replies/Interaction - One of the greatest features of Twitter, and what really sets it apart from other social media channels, is the ability to reply and interact with other users. For a team, this is a great tool to utilize in order to interact with fans and create a more personal relationship. When a team or league builds their social media image, they must decide whether this is an aspect they want to create. For some, such as the @NBA and @NHL, you are unlikely to find any replies, unless the league has an athlete do a "takeover," where they control the account and interact with fans. For others, they want to build that relationship and they incorporate it in their strategy. The @LAKings are arguably the best Twitter in sports to do this (just ask @darrenrovell: link). Not only do the @LAKings constantly interact with fans (link), but they go about it in a humorous way; they build on relate-able posts (link). As Darren Rovell points out, this is key to successful interaction (link). To add a little comic rivalry to the Stanley Cup, following the LA Kings' win to reach the championship, the @LAKings tweeted, "Cruizin' to the airport like [Photo from Home Alone]" (link) to illustrate their flight to NY. In response, the @NYRangers tweeted in response, "@LAKings image from "Lost In New York." #NYRCupFinal" (link). These relate-able, humorous interactions are what create a personal relationship with fans that creates appeal in a team.

Multimedia - A significant part of Twitter is the ability to post photos, videos, vines, and gifs. These elements add another dimension to tweets that allow users to view even more than just the text of a tweet. In this analysis, the winner of best multimedia use goes to @NBA. However, there were a number of excellent multimedia users, including the @spurs, @NYRangers, and @ussoccer. The @NBA does an excellent job with their use of multimedia through the constant use of photos and video. For video, the majority of their posts involve YouTube videos where you can get inside looks at athletes and NBA material. On top of this, they feature Vine videos where appropriate (6 second maximum). Furthermore, they feature a wide variety of photos in their posts. These photos are crucial to posts because they add an extra element of interaction. For example, in the recent NBA draft, @NBA got exclusive photos to popular draft pics, along with their signatures on the photos. These photos help fans to connect to the athletes and their welcome to the NBA. @NBA also does a great job of involving multimedia in "boring" posts, such as stats or quotes. For example, with the 19th pick of the draft, the Chicago Bulls selected Gary Harris. Rather than simply tweeting the pic, the NBA featured a photo of Gary Harris along with  facts, such as his college, hometown, position, and wingspan. This adds an element of interest to a tweet that could have been considered lackluster. One account that could use improvement in multimedia is the @MiamiHEAT. While they do a great job of involving the multimedia, they force fans to search the multimedia to get to what they want to see. For example, in a recent tweet welcoming Shabazz Napier to the team, the Heat tweeted, "#HEATNation - join us in welcoming @ShabazzNapier to your @MiamiHEAT! http://instagram.com/p/pvEcGUEMl-/" (link). By posting the instagram link, instead of the actual photo, fans are forced to make an extra click to what they want to see. While this could force fans to go to the Heat's Instagram page, they could instead post the photo and include the link to their Instagram account. Without the photo in the tweet, fans bypass the tweet without wanting to click on the link.

These four elements make up crucial aspects of a successful Twitter account. Each element differs based on the strategy of the respective account, as illustrated in "Replies/Interaction." Overall, based on the set forth criteria, the best Twitter account of those analyzed goes to the @LAKings.

Blog #2

For the second blog of KSS 782, I will be evaluating the Royal Challengers (http://www.royalchallengers.com), a cricket team based in Bangalore, Karnataka that plays in the Indian Premier League. In this evaluation, I will consider the ease of accessibility, the ease of navigation, the use of interactivity, the use of video, and the quality of content.

First, accessibility is the degree to which a product, device, service, or environment is available to as many people as possible. Before even accessing the website, I Google'd "Royal Challengers," to which the first link was the website, the second their Wiki page, the third the league's page for the team, the fourth their Facebook, the fifth their Twitter, and the sixth section of the "Times of India" newspaper. The website, along with their affiliations, were easily accessible from an initial standpoint of accessing the team information. The website itself was also easily accessible. Although it can be overlooked, a URL is significantly important to accessibility. The Royal Challengers made their URL simple and stand (which is good), by having their URL as www.royalchallengers.com. It eliminates confusion in their finding. While I don't know a lot about cricket, I found their website to be easily accessible to what I would assume are the most important parts of the game. The initial home, landing page featured multiple articles and columns that focused on games, stats, awards, and miscellaneous information. On top of that, it was easy to move around the pages cleanly.

My first glance of the website focused on the five top tabs: "Team," "IPL 2014," "News," "Fan Club," and "RCB Multimedia." These five tabs encompass the majority of what any fan would be visiting the website for. The first includes all information relating to the team, the second relating to the league, the third being all team news, the fourth revolving around the fan, and the fifth featuring multimedia, including photos, videos, and available downloads. The ease of navigation was simple and clean, as it should be. As aforementioned, the top tabs incorporate the majority of what someone is navigating for. The front page, as also discussed, features the most important columns, accolades, and recaps. The page is also fit to the screen of the user, which makes navigation easier in terms of scrolling up and down, and not having to scroll left and right. The team also utilized the entire page. Both sides, outside of the middle features, included logos, photos, columns, hashtags, apps, and social media links. Overall, I thought the website did an excellent job at navigation.

The third critique involves use of interactivity. Again, I thought the website did an excellent job in this aspect; they were extremely interactive with their fan base. In a few examples, one top link includes, "Catch the pulse and feel every beat of Team RCB" for a radio link. This quote pulls the audience in to the team to make them feel apart of something. Another link is to that of the team's statistics. Normally, this is a neutral, uneventful page. However, the website features the quote of, "Get an in-depth look at your favourite RCBian's performance." This quote, again, interacts the fan in to feeling they are connected, especially with the involvement of the word "favourite." Furthermore, the team has created a uniform hashtag of #SeizeTheDay for the team and its moments. This interactivity allows fans to tweet and capture moments all while involving the fan base with the hashtag. Lastly, the use of the "Fan Club" tab allows fans access to such interactivity options as contests, rewards, debates, forums, and blogs. All of these options allow the fans to connect with the team and other fans in order to share their opinions and thoughts. These options allow the fans to feel interconnected with the team.

Fourth, I think an adequate job of the video. I believe this is the area where the website, in relation to the other four critiques, allows the most room for improvement. The websites main use of video is featured in the "RCB Multimedia" tab, under "Videos." This page features hundreds of videos of interviews, games, and practices. While the website does an excellent job within this page, I think they could do a better job of the use of video on the front page or in the redirection to that "Videos" page. The only use of video we see on the front page is a picture of an app with a still-shot of a video playing in the app. The team could, for example, place videos on the homepage, which would show fans that they are included on the website. Even a link next to the videos of "See More Videos Here" could link fans to the "Videos" page where hundreds of other videos reside. While the website does an adequate job of the use of video, there is room for improvement.

Finally, the fifth aspect of this evaluation is quality of content. I thought the website did a great job in this aspect. Every tap, link, column, or post seemed well thought out in its process. Each tap does a good job at including quality content in its links. The homepage also features a wide variety of quality content, ranging from social media links to columns to recaps to fan interaction. Overall, as described throughout the other aspects of this evaluation, the website does a good job at accessibility, navigation, and interactivity in quality posts.

In summary, the Royal Challengers have an excellent, all encompassing website. It features the most important aspects that a cricket website is expected to have. It allows fans to easily and quickly find what they are searching for. It also includes quality links, posts, and content that are meaningful to a fan. As described, the main area of improvement is the opportunity for more video linkage on the home page. The website does a great job of photos of the homepage; they should simply swap a few of these photos out with videos.

Blog #1

Last August, I began my pursuit of my Master of Business Administration degree. It seems like just yesterday that this journey began. Here I am today, on May 29th, with just barely over two months left until I will be a graduate and done with college. With this, I am enrolled in three classes this summer, one of which is my elective, New Media/Technology in Sport. With my career of digital marketing quickly approaching, I'm eager to absorb as much as I can from this class, as it will be significant experience in the real world of this career path. In this class, our first assignment, a blog, is to go one day without various forms of technology, ranging from texting to social media to podcasts. This is the story of how my day went...

For my 24-hour period, I began by evaluating exactly what I had to go without. Obviously, being a student and a part-time worker, there were some things I could not afford to deprive myself of. I decided that I need access to email and D2L. While I know some classmates completely took internet out of the picture, I allowed myself some access in these regards. That would be a whole different story. Not to mention, with graduation quickly approaching, I'm applying for jobs, daily, so I allowed myself access to job search websites. I don't prefer to put that on the back burner, so I spent quite a bit of time occupying myself with that.

I began my 24-hour period when I went to bed on Tuesday night. Yeah, yeah... I definitely made it a little easier on myself by knocking out about 8 hours right away with sleep. I made sure to put in my warning to those I text daily (one person - the girlfriend). Lucky for me, she's a nurse, so she worked 12p-12a on the day of my deprivation. That definitely helped since she never texts during work (I planned what day I was doing this around these things; I took the easy way out). The next morning, I realized how difficult this was going to be. I noticed within minutes of waking up how habitual social media and technology is in my routine. Every morning I check my notifications, texts, and catch up on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Taking a broad perspective of it, I'm not really sure why I do this. There's a lot of things on these social media sites that I really don't care about; it's more just a habit that I glance at them. I actually had to stop myself from opening these apps, but I managed to do so.

From 10:00am-12:25pm, I have class in Beacom, so that helped alleviate some of the temptations. However, it shed some light on how much I browse the internet during class. Needless to say, I definitely could be paying more attention in class sometimes. Successful 12 hours thus far. Following class, I had a phone interview at 3:00pm, so I was able to occupy myself by preparing for that for the next two and half hours. However, I had to cheat once, as I looked up the company and my interviewers on LinkedIn. I considered it relevant and helpful to the interview, so I didn't feel too terrible about that minor cheating. The interview ended around 4:00pm and my next scheduled activity wasn't until I worked at 9:00pm. These next five hours were going to be telling of how I was doing.

In order to kill an hour and a half before dinner, I made myself go to the Wellness Center and get a workout in. That and showering kept me busy until 5:30pm. Usually I hate cooking and prefer making quick things. However, with time to kill, I thawed some chicken and cooked that up with some pasta. Even in the passing time of their cooking, I noticed myself wanting to check Twitter or Facebook while I waited. I made sure to leave my phone in my room though to avoid the temptation. Cooking and eating took me until about 6:15pm... only 2:45 left to kill (It's terrible that I'm talking about having to kill time just because I can't go on social media). Just goes to show how much these meaningless things have come to mean to us.

I had gotten to sleep a little late the previous night, and having to bartender from 9:00pm-2:30am, I knew I was too tired to make it without some struggle. With that, I took a nap from 6:00pm-7:30pm. After waking up, I showered and browsed through some job postings before 9:00pm rolled around. On Wednesday's, I bartender at The Varsity in Vermillion (We have $1.50 taps on Wednesday nights, so come in... tips are appreciated ha). Because Vermillion summers can be scarce, nights can get long. However, some of my friends that live in Vermillion during the summer texted me asking if I was working (Yeah, I had to look at it - I caved). Knowing they wouldn't come down unless they knew I was working, and needing to occupy my night with customers and entertainment, I gave in and replied with a quick, "Ya." One word in 24 hours. Overall, I guess I'll take that. The night rolled on and I made it. This morning, Thursday, I was able to catch up on everything I missed in texts, Snapchats, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Like I mentioned, all meaningless, but we're so used to checking it that I did it mindlessly.

In the end, it was quite the interesting experience. You don't realize how much you use social media, or depend on it, until you can't use it. It's like they say, "You don't know what you got until it's gone." That's real. It shows you how connected we feel we need to be. The last time I went without these luxuries was in 2012 when I went to Cancun on Spring Break. However, I went with 27 other friends (all my closest friends) and, not by choice, I didn't have access to texting or apps because we were in Mexico. However, going one day without these items, in this example, seemed much more difficult than going seven days then. It's much more difficult when you know you can do it, but have to stop yourself vs. when you don't have a choice. It also made it easier because I was never more than 5 minutes from my friends in Cancun. However, on Wednesday, I didn't know what my friends were doing or where they were unless I called them. It's odd though how much of an inconvenience that seems to be in comparison to texting. Sometimes we want a one sentence conversation and that's the convenience factor that texting provides. I don't want to call my friend just to ask a simple question and then hang up; funny how that works. Overall though, it was something that was interesting to experience; you really gain some insight in to how our culture has changed due to the technology we have access to at our fingertips.

First blog ever done... maybe this will continue after this class, but I wouldn't count on it.